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A STAR IS BORN
****
Dir: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga
(USA, 15, 2hrs 15mins)
A fourth remake for a perennial Hollywood story. 1932 saw the first iteration, followed by a showstopping Judy Garland and James Mason pairing in 1954 then a lacklustre re-imagining with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in 1976.
This latest incarnation manages to transcend its ancestors and make its hoary old chestnut of a love story ring true for a modern audience. Bradley Cooper stars and directs as Jackson Maine, a hard drinking/rocking singer, losing his way in the world of fame and music. He discovers new blood and love in the form of Lady Gaga’s Ally.
The chemistry between them is palpable and their onscreen relationship forms the backbone to the success of this retelling. This is pure melodrama; as Cooper’s rock star fades so Gaga’s is ascendant. Cooper is an alcohol-dependent star on the wane, still capable of filling arenas but going through the motions, who discovers Gaga by chance at a drag queen night in a bar.
Gaga is magnetic, stripped of her pop star accoutrements is magnetic. Her potential is evident but she manages to convince us that she is not a pop star from the off, turning in a vulnerable, winning performance. Living with her dad (played by Andrew Dice Clay), she is a songwriter with talent to burn that Cooper falls in love with.
They have a touching duet that tingles the spine, but the romance doesn’t last once Gaga is snapped up by Rafi Gavron’s manager who turns her into a pop sensation and not the figure Bradley Cooper’s elder musician wants her to be.
It’s a tangled relationship made believable and raw by the two actors and managing not to slip into cliché despite some well-worn tropes. Passionate and involving, A Star is Born allows Lady Gaga to perform on the big-screen, whilst also offering a thinly-veiled version of her real life meteoric rise to stardom in the music world. As a director, Cooper marshals what could have been a vanity project admirably, fashioning a grand old style Hollywood romance with relevance.
words Fedor Tot
Opens October 5